Say It Isn't True

The HTN colony caretaker told me this evening, when I stopped by, that there were kittens in the camper shell and that the mother is the last cat caught there, spayed up in Tigard midMarch.

I was skeptical. She has an eartip and is supposed to be spayed. I crawled into the camper and sure enough, found five four week old kittens. This is mid May. So, she could not even have had them just prior to being spayed.

I looked in my records and found the photo (above) I took of the cat after the caretaker trapped her in his garage, then systematically let all the fixed cats out of the garage until only she was left, then set a live trap. I could be wrong, but I don't think it's the same cat. He swears the cat with kittens has an eartip, but he's basing that on presumption not sight. Because he thinks the one we caught and fixed before, was one of two black long hairs.

We already caught one of them long before and she was spayed. The second one he says has a runny eye. The photo of the one he caught in his garage shows no such runny eye. I'm thinking that was likely a different cat, who showed up, probably a male, and then went home, once fixed.

I could be wrong. The clinic might have prepped the cat, tipped the ear, and forgotten to spay her in the busy atmosphere of a clinic doing a couple dozen fixes in one day. Not likely, but it's a possibility.

So, he's after her again and we'll see what went on. I questioned him on whether the cat actually looked pregnant. There can be lots of drama in the cat world. That drama can include one female stealing another's kittens.